My friend Linebaugh made a really smart comment I thought about how the younger generation is increasingly moving away from traditional masculine friendships, where large swathes of personal and emotional subjects are effectively tabooed. Where every male friendship is really a menage a trois between two males and shared interest (bands, sports, politics, detectoring).
I think you can also look at the evolution of competitiveness in basketball. Nowadays the players are all very friendly with each other. The fights are you know a dramatic performance Goffman would say not quite knowing but definitely fueled by set and setting and role play. In the olden days not so. At least that's what players say. Maybe this is just a belief in the water stream, a nice pattern, man softens up over time, that quote about strong men make good times make soft times make bad men. A meme.